Alkyl sulphate (AS) is an anionic surfactant used in various detergent compositions, often in mixtures with other anionic surfactants, especially linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS). Anionic surfactants are known to provide excellent cleaning performance, and in numerous patent publications the use of AS as detergent ingredient is described, vide e.g. EP 219,314; EP 220,024; and EP 328,184.
In detergent compositions the use of AS is solely due to its superior detergency performance. It was certainly not to be anticipated that AS should have any positive influence on some detergent enzymes, while not on others. However, it has now surprisingly been found that AS exerts a positive influence on the performance of a specific group of detergent enzymes.